Parliamentary Question to the Minister for Health
9th December 2012 - Alan Farrell TD
To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide an update on proposals to reduce the €1.6 billion costs related to obesity to the Exchequer; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Reply from the Minister for Health James Reilly T.D.
The prevalence of overweight and obesity has risen steadily in recent times, with 61% of Irish adults now overweight or obese. The WHO now calls the alarming speed with which obesity has increased in recent decades ‘a global epidemic.’ The recently published Report The cost of overweight and obesity on the Island of Ireland funded by safefood and conducted by University College Cork provides reliable figures for the annual, economic cost of weight-related ill health in Ireland.
Initial findings estimate the annual cost of overweight and obesity in the Republic of Ireland to be €1.13 billion. The direct healthcare costs are €398 million or 35% of total costs. This figure includes hospital, GP and drug costs. In addition to this, two thirds of the economic costs were indirect costs in reduced or lost productivity and absenteeism and these amounted to €728 million. These figures show that the extent of the problem is higher than the extrapolated figure used in the 2005 National Task Force on Obesity Report of 0.4 billion euros.
The UCC study shows that almost 10% or 37,341 years of life lost are due to overweight and obesity. The burden of disease from overweight and obesity combined, account for an estimated 2.7% of total health expenditure. This safefood funded study is particularly timely given that obesity is the major health problem in Ireland, of itself and contributing to other chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Irish studies have shown that 2 out of every 3 adults are overweight or obese; 1 in 4 primary school children and 1 in 5 teenagers are overweight or obese. Of particular concern are the results of the recent Growing Up in Ireland survey which found that in children as young as 3 year of age, 1 in 4 are overweight or obese.
As Minister for Health I have made overweight and obesity a public health priority and have established a Special Action Group on Obesity whom I meet with regularly to progress the obesity prevention agenda. It is recognised that alone no single initiative will reverse this growing trend, but a combination of measures should make a difference. For this reason the Special Action Group is concentrating on a range of measures including actions such as: calorie posting in restaurants €“ which I have asked SAGO to prioritise as one of the key initiatives that will have a positive impact in addressing the problem of our rising levels of overweight and obesity and as a means of educating the general public on the calorie content of food portions.
This involved a public consultation process with over 3,130 responses. Top line statistics from that process indicate that 96% of consumers want calorie menu labelling in all or some food outlets with 73% of food businesses indicating that they want calorie menu labelling in all or some food outlets also. This indicates that there is strong support for this initiative among the general public and also, in fact, within much of the food industry itself. Calorie posting has already commenced in a number of establishments and it is envisaged that in the coming months, when the necessary implementation mechanism has been devised it will be further implemented.
My Department has worked with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, with regard to the marketing of food and drink to children towards a new Children’s Code to restrict marketing of high fat, high salt and high sugar foods and drinks up to 7 p.m.
My Department under the auspices of SAGO has revised the Healthy Eating Guidelines, including the Food Pyramid and these I launched on 13th June 2012.
Alan Farrell TD
Dublin FingalAlan Farrell is the Chairperson of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. He is also the Fine Gael Dáil spokesperson on…
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